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Chapter of the Week: #58 [Archive]
Days are going better-my teacher forgot to tell me (& only me-why is always me that gets forgotten?) that there was no lesson today before the regular class, so sat on the hood of my car catching some rays for an hour. Glad it's been nice out. Meditated, relaxed... worked out for the best, had extra energy in class..
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Note: The Tao Te Ching can be obscure, especially if you think you're supposed to understand what it's saying! We find it easier and more instructive to simply contemplate how the chapter resonates with your personal experience. Becoming more aware at this fundamental level simplifies life. This approach conforms to the view that true knowing lies within ourselves. Thus, when a passage in the scripture resonates, you've found your inner truth. The same applies for when it evokes a question; questions are the grist for self realization.
Chapter 58
When the government is muddled
The people are simple;
When the government is alert
The people are cunning.
It is on disaster that good fortune perches;
It is beneath good fortune that disaster crouches.
Who knows the limit? Does not the straightforward exist? The straightforward
changes again into the crafty, and the good changes again into the monstrous.
Indeed, it is long since the people were perplexed.
Therefore the sage is square-edged but does not scrape,
Has corners but does not jab,
Extends himself but not at the expense of others,
Shines but does not dazzle.
And, of course I'm perplexed! And the more I expect reality to be the way I want it, the more perplexed I feel. In my youth, the obvious solution to this dilemma was to scrape and jab until reality changed to [chref=65]conform[/chref] to my ideals of how it should be. Failure has gradually mellowed me... (as I write with a sigh of relief)... though I have a ways to go yet.
When the government is muddled, the people are simple etc., is sound advice on raising a family as long as there is sufficient intimate contact between its members. Sadly, the hurried ways of modern life make that connection increasingly scarce. I first noticed this approach to social relationships in Japan, in how they 'beat around the bush'. It does make for a smoother functioning society.
Is square-edged but does not scrape is a lesson long in the learning. I had to scrape a long while before that could be [chref=36]laid aside[/chref] (at least a little). For me, it is about balance... my mantra! All 'things' seem to go one way, and then the other in a kind of ebb and flow process of 'balance seeking'. 'I' am at peace only when 'I' know, accept and remember that 'I' am just along for the ride and not steering. I can then watch the process rather than try to change the process. This, for me, is meditation.
I thought of the ?people being perplexed?, as opposite to the ?people are cunning?, ?when the government is alert?. Perplexed relates to uncertainty, unknowing about the world, whereas cunning relates to having ?the? answer, always trying to figure out a way around things, to get what they want. (Manipulating our finances with credit cards, to keep buying, comes to mind.)
The natural way things work is straightforward, simple, muddled. The way I want to manipulate things so I can get what I want, involves being alert, cunning, dazzling. I often extend myself trying to get what I want, and I lose sight of my effect on other people ? it?s easy to lose compassion for other human beings when I?m pursuing the illusion of desire. When I can recognize the limit of trying to satisfy desires, I can turn back to the simple and straightforward, to more contentment.
The lines about good fortune and disaster bring to mind Buddhism?s concept of equanimity, which is accepting things as they are, without craving or aversion. In essence, craving is wanting what I want (pleasure), and aversion is avoiding what I don?t want (pain). The thing about both disaster, and good fortune, is that they?re based on my emotional judgment about something that I either want to have in my life, or I want to avoid in my life. Winning the lottery is good fortune; having my house burn down is disastrous. Yet both have to do with the way I desire life to be, with the illusions I hold, more than with the reality of life. Having more money won?t get me contentment, losing my house doesn?t mean my life will be negative forever.
I don?t know that I explained that last very clearly, but hey, since when is communication ever perfect!